Thursday, November 5, 2009

Facial Lesions

This whole thing started several weeks ago when a "mole" on my face seemed to be in a bad position and when I washed my face it kept breaking open and bleeding. After awhile Barb says I should have it checked out. She is a veteran of facial lesion surgery and in her case, the lesion was precancerous.
So, after I return to Florida, I call the Ft Pierce VA clinic and they set me up with my Nurse Practitioner who agrees that it should be looked at closely. They schedule me to go to the West Palm VA Hospital for an appointment with a Dermatologist. He looks at it, removes it and says that he'll send it out for biopsy but he thinks its a wart. A week later, I get a call from a scheduler at the hospital who wants me to come in the next day for my surgery. Eh ah, what surgery are we talking about? He says "for your facial cancer". This is news to me but I've come to find that the professional staff at the clinic and hospitals are super, conscientious people who try to do an excellent job. The support staff are bureaucrats who think the VA owes them something and we should be happy that they even talk to us. Someone dropped the ball.
So I go to West Palm and met very nice Doctor Pat. She looks me over and then sets me on the table with the 3 big lights over it and proceeds to numb me and then cuts out around the incision that the dermatologist did. Now I think she removed a huge chunk of my face but Barb says "wow, I thought it would be bigger". What the hell, not her face. LOL
So now I have an incision closed by 5 stitches and it actually hurts - aches like a toothache for several hours.
Today they remove the stitches and I find that I have a clean bill of health. The "chunk" did indeed have malignant cancers cells in the center around where the first incision was made. The outer edges had no sign of bad cells so that means I'm safe for now. Good news for all concerned especially me!

Sunday, November 1, 2009

I didn't want to lose this blog that Patti Anne mentioned on Twitter.

God twitters creation

God: Gosh its dark in here.
7 days ago

God: There thats better.
7 days ago

God: Hey guys im finally on twitter! Whats up?
7 days ago

God: guys?
7 days ago

God: oh right. i’m the only thing in existence, haha.
7 days ago

God: shut up i wasnt talking 2 you RT @Satan I TOO EXIST
7 days ago

God: BOOORREEDD with endless void gonna make some stuff
7 days ago

God: Hey look what I did today! Separated the darkness from the light. Universe looks like a black and white cookie.
7 days ago

God: I shall call the light day and the darkness Eileen.
7 days ago

God: Darkness doesnt look like an Eileen. Lets go with night
7 days ago

God: Also i created heaven & earth.
7 days ago

God: also i created apostrophes but im not gonna use them
7 days ago

God: thats enough creating for now. Catch ya tomorrow
7 days ago

God: RT @Satan: WHAT IS “TOMORROW”
7 days ago

God: oh i forgot 2 mention i created time too. Busy day.
7 days ago

God: kind of lame creating 2day. Created a firmament. Not sure what that is
6 days ago

God: OMme so much 2 do 2day you guys! Got to bring 4th land from the waters AND create plants and trees. What should i do first?!
5 days ago

God: should have done land first. plants sank
5 days ago

God: fixed! Trees now ON TOP of land.
5 days ago

God: sorry no tweets yesterday guys. Made the sun moon & stars. turned out 2 be more work than i expected. Theyre bigger than they look
3 days ago

God: another busy day. Made @beastsofthesea, @birdsoftheair, and best of all: @penguins. Those turned out so well.
3 days ago

God: made some more kinds of penguins.
3 days ago

God: Poll: What else should i make? a. beasts of the land b. creatures in my own image c. more penguins
2 days ago

God: Answer my poll!
2 days ago

God: maybe it was a mistake to create the internet b4 invention of computers
2 days ago

God: all right penguins it is. Yay!
2 days ago

God: oops. Penguins don’t like the desert.
2 days ago

God: or Indiana.
2 days ago

God: or the sky.
2 days ago

God: ill try the rainforest. Everything thrives in the rainforest.
2 days ago

God: Not penguins.
2 days ago

God: screw it. Made a bunch of other beasts of the land. Not as awesome as penguins but much less picky.
2 days ago

God: also created fake fossils and planted them in the ground 2 make the earth appear much older than it is. Just a little practical joke.
2 days ago

God: i need more followers.
2 days ago

God: #FollowFriday @adam @eve
2 days ago

God: @adam @eve I am the LORD your God who separated the light from the darkness. You shall have no other God before me for I am the LORD your Go
2 days ago

God: &#$%ing character limits. Point is, yay! I made you! Hi! Do what i say.
2 days ago

God: @adam: such as #noteatingapples.
2 days ago

God: @adam what do u mean why? Because im ur god and i said so.
2 days ago

God: @adam why r u bugging me about this? u can have all the mangoes u want and theyre way better.
2 days ago

God: @adam well youre just going to have to take my word for it.
2 days ago

God: @adam WHAT is ur DAMAGE with this apple thing? Eves not tweeting about apples. Shes just off – um –
2 days ago

God: @eve Hey!
2 days ago

God: @adam @eve: EPIC FAIL at #noteatingapples. Both of u r BANNED
2 days ago

God: so yesterday was really stressful. Im taking a break today. No more tweets til tomorrow.
1 day ago

God: Check it out, baby panda sneezing! http://tr.im/DsZ5 (took a break from my break to create YouTube.)
1 day ago

Thursday, October 1, 2009

been awhile

It’s been some time since I've opened this site up. Just lazy I guess since I haven't really been overly busy. Well, I guess I have been working on the house since I've been back plus a day in Bradenton for Dr Audry and a day in West Palm getting glasses.
Today I cleaned the front entryway with my pressure washer. These stupid gnats seem to like my front screen - lights on or off. Anyway, there are thousands of dead carcasses hanging on the screens. Can't blow them off, got to pressure wash them. While I was at it, I pressure washed the front walkway, the recyclable bins, the dead grass at the foot of the driveway and the loose paint on the stone on the front.
The stone is a round 18" in diameter stone with stained glass hummingbirds and flowers embedded. I made this a number of years ago in Ellenton with Charlotte Wahler. I miss Charlotte. She's a great lady and a great teacher. Her & her husband, Bob are great people.
I had to paint the stone because the lawn people in Ellenton got fertilizer on the stucco part, which rusted, into the stucco. To cover it up, I have to paint it periodically. I should make a new one. The paint is on and now I have to scrape the paint from the glass.
Today I went to Sister Judy's to help her with her computer. Hers runs terribly slow for some reason. It's a Compaq and should be Ok but never is. I really don't know what to do to speed it up. I did forget to put an antivirus back on it. I'll have to make a note to go back.
My Bucs are pitiful this season. Last Sunday's loss to the Giants kind of reminded me of pre-1986 teams. This week Josh Johnson, second year backup QB will start. Not too enthused right now even if I did take them in my pool this week. The boys in Wisconsin will get a chuckle out of it.
Today, Carmela came by and got the weeds out of our patio. She returned later and swept the envir-sand into the cracks. I really didn't need her to do it but she started it so. I don't think Barb was too happy spending $30 on doing it but between my back and her ailments it was the smart thing to do. Carmela told me about her church in Vero Beach. First Church of God on 58th Street. Sounds like a big church but maybe we'll try it.

Saturday, September 12, 2009

Wouldn't it be great if Michigan beat Notre Dame!

Last year was a disappointing year for us Michigan fans. Lloyd Carr retired and Rich Rodriguez was named head coach. Coach Rod came from West Virginia and had been successful where ever he coached. He lead Michigan to the worst season ever 3 - 9. It was embarrassing.
The usual problem with being a bad team is that your good players desert you for other schools and recruiting is a bitch. Now we are the bottom of the heap (ranked #38) and in a classic rebuilding year.
Coach Rod utilizes the spread offense which is what most college teams have been using as of late and he is somewhat known for being quite an inovator of the system. Last week, Michigan handily beat Western Michigan, a good MAC school but a MAC school. This week, we get to see them play a decent team in Notre Dame. This is kind of a must win situation since Michigan was the doormat of the Big Ten last year and a continuation of losing to good schools could lead this young team to a downward spiral. Go Blue!

Tuesday, September 8, 2009

It's Tuesday already?

Of course it is. Labor Day weekend was a good one. Saturday, Barb & I had our wedding vows renewed, Sunday was spent at Angela's watching Byron make chili. Monday morning we went to the Clarkston Labor Day Parade to finally see Lauren march with her high school band. She just spent a week at band camp so hopefully they look good. They did and so did she. I was surprised to see how serious she takes it. She was eyes forward and never cracked a smile when she marched past us. Her eyes told us that she saw us but she was all concentration. I guess so she didn't mess up her precise steps. It was cool seeing her march though. I hadn't attended a parade in years and didn't realize that everyone parading would be throwing candy to the kids. Wow, the kids cleaned up. We had to laugh when Barb noticed that one of the groups marching was advertising a Dental Service and they threw a ton of candy out.
After the parade, Barb, Dina and I went to our favorite restaurant, The Honeytree for a late breakfast. Sarah who is our favorite waitress waited on us. Since it was already 11:00, we were all pretty hungry but I resisted my normal strawberry jam with my toast. Not losing much weight but I'm not gaining either which is hard when you live with the Jozwik's.
Later in the afternoon, Dina's Aunt Dolly came by so we all hoped in Michael's truck and drove to Motor City Casino in Detroit. This seems to be a favorite past time for the Jozwik's. We drove down through Detroit and I'm always amazed at the number of burnt up or boarded up houses along the freeway. Kind of reminds me of the pictures of Beirut that used to run on the national news. Barb & I kind of broke out even.... well, Barb won $15 and I lost $15. When we met up at 5:30, Dina was hungry so we decided to hit their buffet. $24 a person! We knew that Greektown Casino which is close by offers theirs for $9.99 so we were surprised. Michael said, let's see if our comps will pay for it all. They swiped their card and sure enough, all 5 of us had a free meal. Michael said that a few weeks back, they won $2,800 and that added to their comp points. The food was far superior to Greektown's so we knew why t was more expensive and there were a whole lot of people eating so the question of Michigan's economy came back up for discussion. I am truly amazed that in a state that has 29% unemployment, there are so many people gambling. How is this possible? Mystery of life, I guess.
This morning is overcast and 65 degrees. The weather report calls for mid 70's but rainy for the next 3 days. Time to start thinking about our trip home to Florida. Of course, the weather down there is still mid to upper 80's and thunderstorms so maybe we need to wait until that weather quiets down as well. I can handle mid to upper 70's not so much 80's. Tropical Storm Fred is out in the Atlantic but they project it to stay in the Atlantic so there's no threat of Hurricane right now.

Sunday, September 6, 2009

Sunday September 6 thoughts

Lots happening in my life. First of all, yesterday Barb & I were actually re-married in the Catholic church. Father Tom presided and Dina & Michael were our able Maid of Honor and Best Man. It was kind of chilling to see that my wife apparently still loves me so much that she wanted to do this. She is my best friend. Observing were Grace, Dolly & John Imbrunone (and Sylvia), Michael's Mom, Toni Koop and his sister Mary Blackstock. Oh, Father Collins, visiting from Africa, also stood by Father Tom's side during the service. Observation, that morning when Barb came down I said to her "Happy Wedding Day" and she stopped and gave me the sweetest smile I've seen in awhile. Score one for Larry! After the ceremony, we went to Carrabas for dinner. Toni & Mary had other plans so they didn't come. We had a nice dinner and good company.
Michael is building a tool shed for Mary at the farm. I have been trying to help out but with my back, I've been limited to about 4 - 5 hours a day. This morning, my back absolutely refused to cooperate so I'm giving it a day off. Michael's still out there and I feel bad not being there to help somehow. Maybe tomorrow will be better. The tool shed is being built to last. We dug a 4 foot hole for the foundation and built it up with concrete block before back filling. Michael has a carpenter who rough framed the structure and a mason who did the concrete work. Now the base is being built up with stone work. In other words, we went out to the old rock walls and picked rocks of all shapes and sizes for build up the base to a height of about 4 feet. The mason did the first layer before he went on a 4 day Labor Day weekend and we've been continuing. He'll be surprised to see that he only has about another foot or so when he returns. Probably not happy either. The carpenter is a joke. Michael planned this with pressure treated lumber and come to find out, you need a special nail when you construct something using this lumber. Apparently the carpenter never knew that so we will have to re-nail everything as soon as the stone work is done and before the top layers of T 111 is nailed on. It'll be a cute structure.
Now that our "wedding" is done, we are waiting for Barb's niece Amber wedding day on the 9/19/09. Then we are free to go back to Florida. We'll lallygag our way back by stopping at the NFL Hall of Fame in Canton, Ohio and possibly a quick visit to Pastor Mike & Judy in Hiawassee, Georgia. Barb hates to impose on anyone so I guess it'll be a quick visit. I just hope the hot dog days of summer are done in Florida when we return. With a little bit of luck.........
Today we're going to Angela's so that I can write down Byron's chili recipe. He claims that he just "throws it together" without measuring so I'll try to be a bit more accurate. I really love his chili! He usually serves it with his cornbread too which also is very good. Is Byron's better than David Fowler's? Well, just different.

Wednesday, September 2, 2009

Have to learn how to do this properly and other thoughts

This morning, I wanted to finish the post I began yesterday. I went looking for my saved draft and actually found it but I couldn't figure out how to continue writing it. I decided that perhaps I needed to post it and then edit it but that didn't work so now I have an unfinished post cluttering my page. Oh well, there's an unfinished picture of George Washington that is quite famous and after all, how many people are actually going to read my blog?
Today should be a kick back, lazy day for me. Dina & Michael took three of their grandchildren across the state to an amusement park. Barb is still trying to get over her sickness which had her in bed most of the day yesterday. I'm up in the air about giving my step-son Pete my laptop and replacing it with a new one. I don't mind doing it but my fear is that he'll never use it and also I'm a month away from Windows 7 coming out. I hear it's far superior to Vista. Heck, Windows 95 was superior to Vista. Well, maybe not.
Yesterday, I finally spoke with Jim Summerville, CPA who does Metro Club's annual Form 990. Since he complemented me on the shape of Metro's records, he's my new best friend. We had a nice chat about Metro Club and I was able to help him with the compliance section of his 990. Maybe he thinks I'm his best friend since I offered up some good ideas (in his words)that he never thought about. Nice to know I can still hold my own with active accountants.
I saw a tab where you can monetize your blogs by allowing an advertisement on your page. My guess is that you get paid for every different person reading your post. I wonder if I can set that up and then email everyone I know to read my blog just to see how many hits I can generate. If everyone I know sends it to the folks in their address book............. I'm not sure I want a lot of unknowns reading my thoughts anyway. After all, they might grab David Fowler's chili recipe!
Speaking of chili. My son-in-law, Byron makes the best chili that I've ever tasted. He claims he just throws stuff in but it's consistently good stuff. I have to sit and watch him do it like I did with Bud Kenyon's sausage gravy.

Tuesday, September 1, 2009

A great day

Monday, Dina & Michael took Barb & I to watch the Tigers/Rays game at Comerica Park. The ride down was interesting because #1 Michael drove (Dina drives 99% of the time) and #2 he drove straight down Woodward Avenue to the ballpark. Woodward Avenue runs from Pontiac to Detroit. It encompasses some of the richest real estate in the area but also some of the worst as well. It's disheartening to see beautiful old churches boarded up in the ghetto areas.
Our first surprise was the great seats that they got for us. They were in the Tigers Den which are behind homeplate and are wide, wooden chairs with a cushion and a little table between two seats. Must be how rich people watch baseball! A waiter kept coming by to see if we needed anything. The odd thing was his prices were the same as the concession stands and much quicker service. (no lines to stand in between innings)
Our second surprise was that son-in-law Byron came to the game with a woman he works with and he was sitting, in the Tigers Den just two rows in front of us. Temporarily at least - apparently the real owners

Monday, August 31, 2009

Monday morning

Mondays are good and bad for a retired guy. Monday morning means the weekly stepping onto the scale. This morning I find that despite the day in Pinconning and the day off to the casinos, I lost a pound and now weigh 232. I like to weigh 218 so I have some serious weight to lose. Why can't I get motivated to exercise more? It would be easy to run out to the gym - but I don't. I could walk around the neighborhood listening to my ipod - but I don't. Maybe back in Florida I will walk the golf course more?
Monday also means I get to feel guilty for not calling Mom over the weekend. I called a few days ago but I need to make it a twice the week deal at least. Maybe later this morning.
Monday means Peter King's "Monday Morning Quarterback". It arrives in email form with a link to SI. Oh it's arrived - more later.

Sunday, August 30, 2009

A good day ruined

Today, Barb & I went with Dina and Angela to two casino's located in the western part of lower Michigan. We seem to be fixated on hitting every Michigan Indian casino this summer. We have only missed two and they're both in Detroit.
We took Dina's car and it was a very long drive. We went first to Four Winds which is located on exit 1 of I 94. In other words one mile from the Illinois border near Chicago. It was a nice place and although we all lost a bit, we had a good time. Poor Dina took it on the chin and dumped a tidy sum which I won't reveal. We all felt bad for her though and that was just the beginning of her bad news for the day.
We then drove east back to Battlecreek and the new casino Firekeepers. It is a nice place where Angela managed to hit a small jackpot and actually walked out with $170 bucks more than she walked in with. I had been up but didn't know when to quit and I ended up losing about $75 for the day. Since it was Dina's gas and the casino comped my lunch I didn't feel real bad for myself. Barb lost a little bit and Dina continued her losing ways and her doldrums continued. I knew that once we got going and began joking around a little that our spirits would get better so I decided to read my sporting news magazine for awhile. All the sudden I heard Dina say "Oh, no". I looked up and saw a state police vehicle taking our "picture' with radar and sure enough he pulls us over and gives Dina a ticket for speeding. Poor Dina she was feeling down and now this. Nice way to cap off what was a bad day for her.
There was rain in western Michigan but a beautiful day back in Waterford. Tomorrow Dina & Michael are taking Barb & I to Tigers stadium to watch them play the Rays. Should I wear my Tigers shirt or my Rays stuff? Ordinarily I would wear the Rays gear but since they traded away Scot Kazmir, I feel like they've already given up on the season while the Tigers are still in the thick of it all. Hmmm decisions, decisions.

Friday, August 28, 2009

It's been awhile

Recently, my beloved daughter, Patti Anne began her own blog and I felt a bit ashamed of dropping my own blog waaaaaaaaaay back when. I hope to resurrect it with this first post.

Currently, Barb & I remain in Michigan. We arrived in early July and it is now late August. Several reasons why:
1. Florida summers are hot and miserable.
2. We promised Barb's niece, Amber that we attend her wedding. (I wish she made it earlier)
3. Barb & I will have Father Tom at St Ben's bless our marriage in a ceremony to coincide with our 30th anniversary. Wow, 30 years!
If I go back to last December, we have spent 7 of 9 months here. A month in December where we celebrated Christmas and then I worked on Metro Club. We left in January to go home when our burglary took place but returned just after the first of February to help Dina & Michael with their tax business. We went home in mid-May for 6 weeks and then returned. I think we are more comfortable in Michigan than Florida. At least more comfortable than living in Ft Pierce. I believe it's time to bite the bullet and sell out in Ft Pierce. I'd like to get a small apartment in Michigan where we would be on our own but still close to family. I would be closer to drive to Albany as well. I'd like to be able to spend more time with Patti Anne so that Alice will be more comfortable with me. She is such a little cutie.
Today is an icky, rainy day good for reading and net surfing only. I am still trying to diet but feel that the current one is not really good for losing weight. It used to be so easy to drop 10 - 15 lbs. now it's murder. I think exercise is the answer but my back is not allowing much of that. I may have to try Atkins, Weight Watchers or that stupid cabbage soup diet. I am really sick of diets though. I haven't had a beer in two weeks or better and football season is coming up soon. What to do? What to do?
I have to set a goal of calling my mother more often. I called her several times and left messages at least 4 times but finally got through to her yesterday. We spoke for 28 minutes. I am sad that I can let a couple of weeks go by without making a concerted effort to call her, I have to do better than that.